Computer games are a very popular form of entertainment. Action oriented computer games, such as a flight simulators for war planes, are becoming more realistic and more sophisticated. Usually such games are played with input devices designed for computer game playing ("game input devices"), such as a joystick control and game pads.
To control the play of the game, the computer game software is configured to receive commands from the game player (user). Typically, the game software accepts, as commands from the user, signals from the keyboard, or signals from a game input device. Many game input devices provide buttons and other control mechanisms, such as a pan button, which are manipulated by the user to send a signal to the computer that the computer game software recognizes as a command. For example, a trigger button on a joystick attached to a joystick control may be depressed by the user to a fire the weapons of fighter jet. One button on the joystick control may be depressed to select a weapon, a second button may arm the weapon, a third button may disarm the weapon.
Typically the number of commands recognized by a computer game exceeds the number of controls that can be implemented on a game input device. Thus computer game software is typically configured to recognize a select set of commands as signals from game input devices. The remainder of the commands may be issued as signals from the keyboard. The select set of commands typically includes those commands that must be quickly issued in the various situations presented by the computer game. For example, one common situation presented by a computer game is a simulated dogfight. During a simulated dogfight, a user may need to quickly issue many commands, such as commands to control the airplane's thrust, airbrakes, rudder, radar, and weapons. When all the needed commands are part of the select set, the commands can be quickly issued through the game input device. The user does not have to move a hand to the keyboard to issue any command needed in the current situation facing the user. In light of fast pace of dogfight, the player can play much more effectively if all the needed commands may be quickly issued through the game input device.
Because the number of commands that can be part of the select set is limited, often in particular situations presented by computer games, there are commands that users need to issue which are not part of the select set. Thus, in situations where a command is not part of select set and the need for the user to issue the command arises, the user must take one or both hands off the game input device and move them to the keyboard to issue the command through the keyboard. In these situations, the user's ability to play effectively is impaired. For example, assume that commands that are most often needed in a simulated dogfight, such as commands that control the movement of the fighter jet and fire the air-to-air missiles and machine guns, are part of the select set of commands. However, the command that pans the view presented to the user on the computer screen to a perspective looking up from the jet fighter is not part of the select set. The need to issue the latter command does not occur as often as the need to issue the commands in the select set. However, because the need may occasionally occur during a dogfight, the user's ability to play effectively is impaired.
One approach to overcome the previously discussed problem is the integrated voice recognition approach. In the integrated voice recognition approach, the computer game software is configured to accept commands from a particular sound engine. As used herein, the sound engine refers to the hardware and software components on a computer system specifically responsible for receiving and interpreting sound input and generating sound output. For example, a computer system may include a sound card and sound card software. The sound engine receives sound from an external device, such as a microphone, and transmits data typically representing spoken words to an application running on the computer system. The behavior of the application is controlled based on the data received from the sound engine instead of or in addition to the input from a game input device.
The integrated voice recognition approach offers several advantages over the use of a keyboard during game play. First, commands not in the select set may be issued vocally without the user having to move a hand off the game input device to the keyboard. Second, the user is alleviated from the task of memorizing the various combinations of key strokes needed to issue the many commands typically needed to play a computer game. For example, rather than switch to a top view by pressing Shift-T, the user can simply say "top view".
A disadvantage of the integrated voice recognition approach is computer game software must be specifically programmed to interface with and receive input from sound engines. Because of the extra cost of developing game software that receives input from sound engines, many computer games do not offer integrated voice recognition.
Clearly, it is desirable to provide a mechanism that provides the ability to vocally issue commands when playing computer games that are not configured to interface with a sound engine.